Automobile vehicle.



No. 629,064. Patentemuly :8,1899.

J. r. T. norm.

AUTOMOBILE VEHICLE.

(Appliention 51nd Dec. 15, 189

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Patented July I8, |899. J. F. T. CONTI.

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Nn. 629,064. Patented luly I8, |896.

J. F. T. CONTI.

AUTGHOBILE VHIGLE.

(Application led Dec. 15, 189B.) (llo Nudel.) 3 Sheets-Sheet 3.

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W'IVESSES:

. f 'NITED STATES JAMES FELIX TIBURCE ooNTr, oEPARisjEEANoE, AssicNoE ToTHE l SOCIT oHocoNiN ET CIE., or SAME PLACE.

AuT'oMoBiLE-VEHICL.

srEcIErcA'rroN forming' part of Lttrs rasant No. 629,064, dated July is,189e. l

Ammann anregen-iter 16,1898. senti ut. 699,299. (No man.) v

ing to the operation of the driving-wheels,A

which are, mounted loosely upon the front toward the front.

axle, and also to the different arrangements whereby the said frontdriving-axle can be,

suitably steered, the fore-carriage Vbeing connected by arigid-longitudinal frame to the axle of the rear wheel without exertingany Vpull upon the body, properly so called, of the vehicle. f

My improved vehicle is represented in the accompanying drawings.

`,Figure lis a` longitudinal elevation, partly .in section, on the linel l of Fig. 2. Fig. 2 is is a plan,partly in section, on the line 2 2 ofFigs. 1 and 3. Fig. 3 is a vertical section cut on the line 3 3 in Figs.l and 2 and looking Fig. 4 is a fragmentary section through the axis ofone of the auxiliary shafts carrying the driv in g-rollers, drawn to alarger scale, cut on the line 4 4 in Fig. 5 and looking in the directionof the arrow; and Fig. 5 is a transverse section through the line 5 5 ofFig. 4 looking inthe direction of the arrow. Y

The motor fore-carriage comprises two ixed pivots a. a, carried bya-frame B, which can pivot upon a bolsterpin or which can movecircularly upon a guide-disk C. (See Fig. l.) Upon the two pivots a dareloosely mounted two wheels' D D, which form the drivingwheels. The hubof each of the wheels D carries a pulley E, which forms a friction-drum.A second friction-drum E' of larger diameter is arranged upon the wheelitself. Through the medium of one or the other of these drums E E eachof the wheels D is actuated either for forward or backward movement. `Tothis end an intermediate shaft b carries twoffriction-rollers c o',which can make contactthat is to say, either o with E or of with VE.

Y'ported by a iixedpoint d upon the {framel It will be vThis shaft hdoes not extendl throughouttlie whole widthrof the vehicle. 'There isone of the small shafts bvupon each side of the driv- ,ing-frame.` Eachof the small shafts o is supa rod F, which can oscllate around obviousthat according as the rod F is moved forward or backward the roller cwill operate the drum E or the roller c' will operate the drum E. Theshaft b always being rotated by themotor in thesame direction, the smalldrum E, with which the roller c will make contact, will cause thevehicle to'move forward. On the other hand, the drum E' when the rollero' makes contact with it will cause the vehicle to move backward.

The transmission of the movement of the rollers c and c' to the drums Eand E is effected in' the following manner: Upony each roller c c thereis loosely mounteda sleeve e, composed of sheets of leather andindia-rubber rolled one upon the other, (see detail Fig. 4,) the insideand outside surfaces being of leather. This loose sleeve possesses acertain elasticity. When the roller is applied against the drum, thissleeve is, so to say, laminated. It is morev or less com ressedaccording as the roller vis pressed with a greater or less force uponthe drum through the medium of the rod F. It will be obvious that it mayhappen that the pressure corresponds to theY coefficient of friction ofthe leather and that the drinn is rotated without any loss of velocity.If the pressure is below'this limit, the sleeve will slidesimultaneously upon the roller and upon the drum in such a manner thatthe corresponding wheel will be driven at a reduced velocity.v With thisarrangement it is possible to vary the speed of the vehicle as desiredwith a motor of .constant velocity. l

I may further' mention that the sleeve c being made of' a soft materialwill be more l j when the pressure is small'.

As hereinbeforedescribed,the vehicle runs. forward when the shafts b aremoved for.- .ward in order that the rollers c may come in piece Hforward or backward.

contact Wit-h the drums E, and, inversely, the vehicle will run backwardif the drums E E' are in contact with the rollers c', the smallshaftsbhaviugbeen movedbackward. Vhen the shafts h are in anintermediate position, the rollers will not be in contact with eitherdrum and the motor can vcontinue to rotate without moving the vehicleeither forward or backward.

The two small shafts I) Z1 are actuated bya shaft G, which is placedbetween them and in their prolongation, the said shaft G being themotor-shaft or being directly operated from the said motor. As thisshaft G is fixed, since it is actuated by the motor and since the shaftsl) I) should for the reason above explained be adapted to be moved in aparallel direction to effect contact on one side or the other at agreater or less pressure, I have designed the following intermediateconnection.

The shaft G has keyed upon it two 'disksf f. (See the detail views,drawn to a larger scale, Figs. 4t and 5.) Each of these disks f isconnected by two small rods g g to the two opposite ends of across-piece 7L in the form of a diagonal which is free in space, the twoother ends of this cross-piece in the form of a parallelogram beingconnected by the rods t' fi to the ends of a cross or balance piece j,fixed upon the corresponding shaft b. It will be understood that withthis arrangement the driving-shaft G, which is fixed in position, canactuate the shaft ZJ without its being in the prolongation of thedriving-shaft G and even when the said shaft b is displaced in aparallel manner according to requirement, as hereinbefore described.

I have above mentioned that the parallel displacement of the shafts Z; bwas effected by means of the rods F suspended to the frame. I will nowproceed to describe how these two rods or either one or the other ofthem, as desired, can be actuated.

Each of the rods F is provided with an eye 7c, and in these two eyes areengaged the ends of a balance or rocking lever H, the axis of which iscarried by a slide L, controlled by a right-angled lever Z. The end ofthe horizontal branch of this lever is pivoted to a rod m, which risesvertically from the center of the fore-carriage. This rod m is formed atits upper part with a screwed portion m', with whicha nut n engages, thesaid nut being adapted to turn in a support R, without, however, beingable to move upward or downward. The nut n is formed in one with apinion p, with which a pinion p/ engages. This latter pinion isconnected by a pivoted joint o to a horizontal joint q, which carries ahandwheel N. It will be obvious that by turning this wheel N the nut nis turned, whereby the rod m is causedl to move upward or downward, soas to move the balance or rocking This balancepiece acts in the sainemanner upon the two rods F, and the friction-rollers c or c como intoaction for effecting the forward or backward movement.

To provide for turning, it is necessary to give to one only of thedriving-wheels D a forward movement, the other driving-wheel not beingoperated or being even moved slightly backward if the curve to be madeis of very small radius. To this end the balance or rocking lever H musthave a certain inclination given to it in order that one only of therollers c comes in contact with the drum E of the wheel to be operated.This inclination of the lever is effected by turning a tube O, which isconcentric with the rod m and which carries (see the plan Fig. 2) an armr, connected by a rod r' to an arm r2 of the said lever II. By turningthis tube O through a certain angle a slight inclination will be givento the lever II around its axis orpivot a. This angular displacement ofthe tube O is effected in the following manner: The upper end of thesaid tube O carries a fork t, connected by the ends of' its arms toanother horizontal fork ,'carrying at its center a socket or the like u.It is in this socket u in which is engaged in such a manner that it canturn therein the horizontal rod q, which carries the hand wheel N. Ifvthe driver swings the hand-wheel N to the right or to the left, he Willmove the fork t' in the same direction, the said fork causing the forkt, and consequently the tube O, to oscillate upon its vertical axis.

As will be obvious from the preceding description, the driver has onlyto manipulate the hand-wheel N to control the mechanism of his vehicleas he desires and according to circumstances. The horizontal rod q beingin the axis of the vehicle byturnin g the handwheel to the right or tothe left the lever or the like I-I is moved forward or backward, thesaid lever acting upon the two rods F, carrying the small shafts b ofthe drivingrollers c and c', so as to cause the vehicle to run forwardor backward. -I

By pressing the drivin g-rollers more or less strongly upon theirrespective drums by turning the hand-wheel N more or less to the rightor to the left the driver can vary the velocity of movement of thevehicle without the speed of the motor being modied, because, as abovementioned, the driving-rollers are provided with sleeves which can slidecircumferentially 4if the pressure is not very great.

` 'By swinging the hand-wheel N, and with it the rod q, to the right orto the left thedriver will give the leverI-I an inclinationmore or lessgreat. It will result from this that one only of the driving-wheels willbe rotated or that one of them will be rotated more quickly than theother, so that the vehicle can run in a curve.

The driving fore-carriage which I have just described and which formsthe traction portion of the vehicle is connected to the rear axle Pwithout affecting in any manner the IOO IIO

Beebe/i is eected through the medium of a frame Q',

to which is connected by suitable supportsk the guide-diskC, upon whichthe frame of the fore-carriage can pivot.

I claim as my invention thevfollowing-defined novel features,substantially as hereinbefore specified, namely:

l. The operation of the two auxiliary shafts carrying thefriction-rollers by a driving-shaf t fixed in position, the connectionbetween this driving-shaft and the lateral auxiliary shafts, which canbe displaced in a parallel direction, being effected by a cross-piece inthe form of a parallelograrn, t'wo diagonally-opposed ends of which areconnected by rods to a fixed plaie upon the drivin g-.shaft while thetwo other ends are connected by rods to a cross-piece upon the auxiliaryshaft to be operated, this connection permitting the driving of theauxiliary shafts by the motor-shaft Without the shafts being arranged inalinement.

2. The parallel displacement of the shafts` carrying the driving-rollersby means of rods upon which a balance or rocking lever operates, theaxis `of the said lever being carried by a movable slide under theaction of a vertical rod which can be raised or lowered through themedium of a hand-Wheel and an arrangement of two pinions, the latter 'ofwhich forms a nut upon a screw-threaded por; tion of the said verticalrod.

3. In mechanism for controlling automobile vehicles the connection ofthe rod having the hand-'wheel .with the first pinion having ahorizontal axis through the medium of a Cardan joint enabling the pinionto be oper14 ated even when the hand-wheel rod is turned to the right orto the left.

4. The mechanism forr oscillating the balthe hand-wheel. v

In witness whereof I have hereunto signed my name, this 2d day ofvDecember, 1898, in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

JAMES 'FELIX TIBURCE CQNTI.

Witnesses: l

VEDWARD P. MAGLEAN,

AUGUSTE MATHIEU.

ance or rocking lever of automobile vehicles v for the purpose ofenabling the motor to act only upon one driving-wheel or upon the twolike designed tosteer the rod or axle carrying,

